Bill Simmons, ESPN’s Page 2 – “Who Buys Sports Posters Anymore?”

Matt in Virginia points this out: Until recently, we described every hellacious NBA dunk in someone’s face as “He posterized him” or “He put him on a poster.” But after Baron Davis’ dunk in Round 2, there was a seismic shift. For the first time, you could have said, “Davis YouTubed Kirilenko!” and gotten the point across. A few more monster dunks, and I see YouTube becoming a verb along the lines of Google and TiVo. Frankly, it’s time. Who buys sports posters anymore?

Well, Bill, I could tell you thousands who do. But I must say, the heyday of Michael Jordan poserizing anyone and everyone are long-gone (and we’re still waiting for a poster heir-apparent). And also, the modern design trends, unfortunately, often photoshop-out the background, thus eliminating the “posterized” players – like this new Kobe Bryant poster:

If, in fact, sports-poster collecting is becoming extinct, one reason might be “player movement” through free agency. Not many collectors or fans are going to spend a lot of money on posters of players who are here today, gone tomorrow.
I am fascinated that those over-priced Fathead images are doing as well as they are due to free agency, trades and salary cap casualties.
One way for poster producers and Fathead sellers could increase their sales would be to offer images of vintage players who played the majority of their careers with the same teams in the same cities. Babyboomers would buy up such Studio One-like reprints in a hreatbeat!!!!